oh those tasty temptations...

[youtooellen]

a friend of mine was talking to me today in school about overeating, exercising, and mainly resisting food temptation.

She asked me for advice if I had any ideas on how to help her, but... shockingly, I really couldn't. I'd be a hypocrite if I told her exercise daily and choose veggies over junk food ..

so I'm asking anyone and everyone for help I guess.
for both my friend and I..

any advice on how to resist snack foods, tempting sugarcoated candies, chips, fast food, etc.?
I personally just motivate myself to avoid fast foods and all that by being stingy about my money and trying to spend wisely. but I guess that doesn't really work all too much when there's plenty of sugary goodies laying around at home..

my friend and I are both in our third year of high school, or, the 'toughest' year of high school . all we do is sit in front of our computer and do homework.... we've become extremely inactive.
any advice on how to stay active at the same time or just during the school year in general?


my friend is very conscienscous over her weight, so I want to help her out as much as possible. I'm planning on being her... weightwatch buddy as in 'work out with her, eat healthy with her, etc.' just the buddy along her side to help keep her motivated. to be honest, I'm content with my weight, but sure, I'd love to lose a few more pounds while helping my friend out

so any thoughts, or ideas, advice, anything is welcome
my friend and I would be very grateful for anything really.
thanks!

 

[hedgehog]

Tough thing is resisting temptations to food.
Although I was successful in losing weight, its still a battle that can prove tough, especially when everyone around you is filling their faces with chips, kebabs, chocolate and all the other unhealthy pleasures (Im dreading Christmas day because of all the chocolate in the house!).

I just try to keep myself away from food as much as possible except when it comes to meal times.

I try to spend or give away as much spare cash as possible so I don't end up spending it on my sweet tooth.
Another thing I do is to try occupy my mind as much as possible in my spare time (i.e. with music, excercise, games, sport, helping out with things, posting drivel on various message boards, etc...).

I also set targets and try to plan what to do with my time (worst thing I can do is spend my spare time downstairs watching TV, where Im bound to be tempted to grab something to eat whilst Im sitting on the sofa doing little).

I only weigh 9 stone 7, so its worked for me (maintaining it is tricky, got to get into the habit of living healthy and not slipping back into old ways).

Im not sure what other tips I can give, but I hope that helps.

 

[MsGiggles]

I don't resist those "tasty temptations" that are normally only available this time of year - I even make some of it for friends and family...and of course I indulge I admit I probably do gain a couple pounds - but that comes off Jan 1

I know that's probably not much help but it's better to eat the sweets in moderation than to deny yourself any of it at all.

 

[briarrose]

I'm a college student, so I know what it's like to have no free time. I don't have much time to exercise. I make it a point to park very far away from my college so I get some exercise in.

As for eating, I try to choose healthy food. When I find myself wanting junk food, I'll take a small piece, but then I'll chew gum or drink a lot of water. This seems to help. The holidays are the worst. I'm really dreading it. I lost 10 pounds in August and September and I don't want to gain it back.

Good luck!

 

[Chizip]

http://www.intense-workout.com/cravings.html

thats an article from a website i have used to learn about working out, eating right, and all that good stuff. the guy's advice can be kind of blunt, but it's very good. so i suggest reading that article

 

[briarrose]

Also, if you completely cut out junk food, the cravings will go away. I've done this before. The first week is agony, but after that, you will find yourself not even tempted.

 

[hedgehog]

I'm a college student, so I know what it's like to have no free time. I don't have much time to exercise. I make it a point to park very far away from my college so I get some exercise in.

As for eating, I try to choose healthy food. When I find myself wanting junk food, I'll take a small piece, but then I'll chew gum or drink a lot of water. This seems to help. The holidays are the worst. I'm really dreading it. I lost 10 pounds in August and September and I don't want to gain it back.

Good luck!

As said before, Im dreading the Christmas period:
mince pies, sugary treats, puddings, chocolates... from a diet point of view its the worst part of the year!

Bizzarely enough, water and gum makes me more hungary (which was a pain at college, as I used to buy a lot of gum).

I know that's probably not much help but it's better to eat the sweets in moderation than to deny yourself any of it at all.

In my experience, even eating in moderation led me to crave more.
I used to tell myself that eating in moderation (i.e. the odd choc biscuit every now and then) was okay, but then you keep thinking "another one won't hurt" and before you know it your addicted to junk food again.
I still eat sweets every now and then, but it really isn't very often.

As briarrose said, if you deny yourself junk food then you will eventually find yourself far less tempted to eat unhealthily.

 

[HelloAngel]

The thing that helps me stay away from junk food is knowing that junk food makes you gain weight. Maybe not immediately when you are in high school because your metabolism is higher and your body is still growing, but when you hit your 20s, lots of crappy foods you've eaten and your bad eating habits will catch up with you.

The best thing (at least for me) is to equate junk food with weight gain and the terrible effects eating crap has on your body, your energy and overall appearance.

As far as exercise, perhaps start taking walks together, or put on some good music and run in place, do jumping jacks and sit-ups when you think of it. Drinks lots of water.

I dunno - we're all different, but those things worked for me. I'm extremely weight conscious...so much so that I became a vegetarian to stave off weight gain.

 

[hedgehog]

As far as exercise goes, Ive never exactly been a gym-goer type of guy, I just go for a jog every now and then (i.e. a quick run around the block or if Im feeling really energetic a jog round the lovely area where I used to live, brings back good memories and burns calories!).

Sit-ups are an excellent exercise to do when trying to lose weight, worked wonders for me.

 

[nbcrusader]

From my experience, a no-carb diet (and I know there are positives and negatives to this) helped break my snacking on sugar items.

Even though I no longer follow an Atkins diet, my desires for sweets in large quantities is largely gone.

And add any form of exercise. Even walking will help.

 

[VintagePunk]

Also, if you completely cut out junk food, the cravings will go away. I've done this before. The first week is agony, but after that, you will find yourself not even tempted.

That's been my experience, as well.

I need to start putting it into practice again.

 

[Liesje]

I know a guy who used to be in top shape from playing football. Then he lost both of his kidneys and is not allowed to play sports. He gained a lot of weight from being sick and not being able to play football, but he lost most of it again. He said all he did was drink a full bottle of water before each meal. The water helped him lose weight and made him feel more full.

 

[For Honor]

Yeah, water will really cut things down, I agree.

The idea of knowing I'm eating complete shit for my body, and/or the "lard factor", that helps. But I think, as others have mentioned, after you distance yourself from sweets by eating good things, your body knows what's right, and sooner or later you lose interest i nthe fake, manmade sugarbombs

 

[youtooellen]

I've been talking to my brother about it a bit (he used to be around 200 lbs. at 5'6 in the beginning of high school and now he's in his last year and has lost over 45 lbs already ) and he kept telling me that it's all about eating healthy, getting the greens in, and running when you can

I hate running and so does my friend so it's pretty complicated.

and the whole junk food avoiding it and it'll go away is very reasonable today I avoided going near the school vending machines to eat chips in the hallways cause I had fruits I packed earlier in the morning
my friend on the other hand.. not so well. she actually had fast food for dinner today

 

[For Honor]

^ that was my dinner, too

But at least I got a somewhat more healthy chicken sandwich.

ANd didn't get soda - not only are those POS SOBs bad for your body, they are ex$pensive

 

[For Honor]

Yoiu know, I was going to write a whole lot about how I just said goodbye to a person I loved, but......

I don't have to.

And I think that's a good thing.


Maybe I'll use the inspiration later, to dress it up, and make a nice little timepeice for myself, but, right now, I'm not even thinking about her, and I'm not really hurting in a bad way, so, I guess I don't have to bother.


..........

next subject, please